The Rage: Carrie 2

First time round it was new. Brian De Palma hadn't become the sleaze shock supremo of post-Psycho fright flicks yet and Sissy Spacek was still a name without a freckle. When she brought the wrath of God down on Prom night and blood ran like diesel oil across the dance floor and flames licked the sky, a darkness descended on high school prankster movies. Would they ever be the same again? Well, no... They became American Pie.

The Rage is a resurrection that fails. The boys behave far worse than the virgins of Pie. The sports jocks run a book on who can lay the most chicks. Sexism is ugly here, and rampant. One girl throws herself off a roof in despair. Her best friend, Rachel (Emily Bergl), can shatter glass and hurl objects about with the strength of her will. Her mom's in the funny farm and she's scared she may go the same way. She says she's a dyke to keep the games players out of her face. They come anyway, because they're drunken louts, and fling a brick through her foster parents' window. The sensitive one, Jesse (Jason London), feels sorry for her. There's always a sensitive one, but usually he's a bookworm with bad skin. Jesse's the star quarterback and every football groupie's hot for him.

The connection with Carrie is that Rachel has the same psychic abilities. The headmistress (Amy Irving), who, as a teenager, was the only one to survive the Prom fire, recognises the symptoms and pleads with Rachel to seek help. Like walk off the set and save her reputation? No, like be a good girl and do what teacher says. Some hope. Rachel storms out in search of Jesse, who has been waylayed by a sexy cheer leader. Oops! By this stage, you don't care. Jesse is dull as mud and Rachel's attitude is a turn off. Don't get her mad, or the house falls down. Try for a kiss and she shies away like a frightened pony. She says, "I like flowers." He says, "What kind?" She says, "Daisies." He says, "Daisies?" She says, "Yes." He says, "I'll remember that." Come back Mr De Palma, all is forgiven.